Last time I was at Eden Park (earlier this year for the Warriors opener) I was in the ASB stand and apparently close to the ground (but still miles away it seemed). Someone had placed the advertising hoardings in such a way that from my seat the hoardings obscured the near sideline. Do they want people to go there?

The entire Blues franchise is completely off the pace in the professional environment, from top to bottom.

An illustration: A person I know has a son (Auckland born and bred) who is good enough to have had three professional teams come beating a path to his door. First up were the Warriors, whose recruitment manager and talent scout gave a full presentation, discussed the club and the prospects for the young man, and were - in the words of my friend - well organised, well briefed and had answers to all his questions about his boy.

Next up was the Blues manager. He arrived late. He had no presentation. He "waffled on about himself for ten minutes minutes" and didn't have clear answers to any questions. He left with vague instructions to call someone if he was keen to play for them.

The last to come courting were the Crusaders. They were as well presented as the Warriors, but in addition had done some analysis and discussed the lad's strengths and weaknesses and had a full timeline of the potential career path for the player in the franchise.

Next up was the Blues manager. He arrived late. He had no presentation. He “waffled on about himself for ten minutes minutes” and didn’t have clear answers to any questions. He left with vague instructions to call someone if he was keen to play for them.

"The Ministry of Social Development’s latest statistics show there are more than 35,000 New Zealanders aged 18-65 on an invalid or sickness benefit because of their mental condition. Almost all of them have a computer.

Then consider the “poor me” brigade. That phalanx of Kiwis who have made such a complete hash of their lives that they deeply resent anyone who is in the least successful. A good number of them have access to a computer too.

Then the post-modern technological world gifts them an outlet for all their impotent rage. They start up blogs, and get a Facebook or Twitter account. They participate in social networking sites, and they all share two things in common. They are mad, and they tend to hide their vitriol behind a fictional moniker.""

Yep, I've wasted plenty of words on the useless Blues organisation recently. They allowed themselves to become so complacent in the past decade that their ship has sailed and sunk. Dalton is astonishingly still in a job.

Head across town to the Warriors RB.

They are well run from the bottom to the top and Auckland Rugby League is meshing in nicely with them.

And what's best, they are poaching all the really good 1st XV talent around now too and if they don't come through the Warriors Toyota Cup side they go off to one of the other Toyota Cup sides. There's roughly 300 NZers playing first grade, NSW Cup or Toyota Cup now. There's money in dem der hills.

And what’s best, they are poaching all the really good 1st XV talent around now too and if they don’t come through the Warriors Toyota Cup side they go off to one of the other Toyota Cup sides. There’s roughly 300 NZers playing first grade, NSW Cup or Toyota Cup now. There’s money in dem der hills.

Handling errors continue to be the Blues biggest woe, this week they made seventeen - their most yet this season - including two intercepted passes for the Sharks' first and second tries. The Blues are now averaging almost thirteen handling errors per game this season, which is four more than the other New Zealand sides.

Can I say that as a Hurricanes man through and through, I railed against Mark Hammett and his release of our "best" players...but I see now, MH was really a prophet and foresaw the trouble that these players would cause so he did away with them.

We have plenty of other dross you guys up there are welcome to have. Our cricket team is pretty bad...

May I use this forum to say,Professional "sport" could/should honestly promoted as,Business Entertainment !sport is what kids used to play,back in the days All Blacks were not paid !The whole phony presentation, makes one as cynical about it, as politics !Sporting Entertainment,has lost its way, in many aspects of NZ rugby,as jobs for the boys, replaces proffessional admin staff ! But its always - the economy, nopeits lack of integrity !

I've been considering a season pass for a few years now especially after the world cup crowds but the feckless ground issues and even more feckless team are keeping me away it's a shame I'd really like to head to a rugby game every Saturday like I did when I was little

Can I say that as a Hurricanes man through and through, I railed against Mark Hammett and his release of our "best" players...but I see now, MH was really a prophet and foresaw the trouble that these players would cause so he did away with them.

Perhaps, but bear in mind that Andrew Hore and Hose Gear went to the Highlanders and are currently in great form, Hore especially. Apart from the absolute shambles of the ORFU (not necessarily connected to the Highlanders, but symptomatic of a greater sickness within NZ rugby), I haven't been this enthused about the Highlanders since the Jeff Wilson/Josh Kronfeld era. Okay, so they lost to the Stormers- and the Crusaders showed on Saturday that you really have to drag them out of the match by keeping it down their end- but they've played with purpose and passion, two qualities alarmingly absent over the last few years. They've won the close matches which in recent years they would have bottled. And they've played attractive, coherent rugby. Adam Thomson is in superb form, in particular.

In fact, you could argue that the Blues are the only NZ side in the competition that aren't having a good year (the Crusaders are starting to come right). And it's not for lack of talent, either. So what the hell if going on with them?

The Nonu, Weepu thing is a red herring. Nonu is digging in. Weepu is out of shape and not starting but they've still got Mathewson (who freakin hates Weepu I hear) who was their halfback last year when they made the semi's.

Their problem that I see is that the forward pack aren't that good. Certainly not playing cohesively and positionally as they should be and the backs are playing panicky rubbish.

It's all down to coaching IMO.

And looking further away from that the entire organisation + the Auckland provincial team has been terribly run in the past 5 or so years. Tom's anecdote above really does sum it up nicely. They thought they just had to waltz along, hands in pockets as stars came up into their sides and won them titles.

But in the past 15-20 years more and more 2nd and 3rd tier club players have left Auckland to Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Northland etc to play which has weakened Auckland club rugby considerably, and more and more of the top young talent is getting poached before they get pulled into the Auckland rugby setup.

And now the arse has fallen out out Blues and Auckland crowds and they aren't winning ANYTHING so they aren't an attractive proposition to the younger talent....

It all requires an enormous overhaul.

But it's an incestuous, semi-professional setup so I don't hold out hope. It requires serious hunger and desperation for success because the sport has gone reasonably professional in many senses (though still only half hearted by real standards) and there are so many other provinces and Super 15 franchises that haven't tasted a great deal of success historically and so they desperately seek it, leaving Auckland with dust in its eyes.

The Blues forwards are backwards - They will recover however it will be next season or the one after that.

One has to believe in oneself and possess confidence as well as skill - in most of the games they haven't lost by that much - but passing and catching the ball and tackling will most certainly help.

There season is at present chugging along like a badly scripted soap opera or teen tragedy - I wouldn't send Sir G Henry - I would send in the Shortland Street Team to show the Blues how to be consistent.

Maybe they shoudl try prayer - I have heard Jesus is the answer?

I hope the Blue's lack of a certain something does not damage Rangers and Nonu’s All Black selection chances..